


Evermore

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Series: Moving On [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bucky being Bucky, But everyone loves him for it, But then he tries not to be a raging dick, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard is only a little bit of an ass, I just really wanted to write this pairing, Protective Bucky Barnes, Random & Short, Sinnamon Roll Steve Rogers, Steve is Manipulative, Tony Being Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-20 00:22:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10651140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Steve, for his part, never planned any of this. Howard Stark, if he was ever on Steve’s radar, was known as a horrible bastard because… well he kind of was. But there was something about Howard that had drawn Steve in, curiosity maybe, and now he was awkwardly meeting Howard’s prodigal son. The one that was basically the same age as him, as he so aptly pointed out.*Rhodey looks confused, “okay so let me get this straight- your father is dating someone who is the same age as you and they’re getting married and he expects you to be totally okay with this?” he asks.“He’s marrying his fucking mid life crisis, Rhodes," Tony says.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those 'real life is the perfect prompt' things. I totally realized that my crush on RDJ is way weirder because the age difference between us is greater than the number of years I've been alive. Which is the premise that spawned this lovely little story that I finished instead of sleeping.
> 
> I miiiiight add a chapter two with some wedding details, but who knows. Maybe.

Steve, for his part, never planned any of this. Howard Stark, if he was ever on Steve’s radar, was known as a horrible bastard because… well he kind of was. Getting to know Howard had hardly been enlightening in revealing that Howard was secretly not a jerk because he’d have to find qualities in the man that flat out weren’t there. But there was something about Howard that had drawn Steve in, curiosity maybe, and now he was awkwardly meeting Howard’s prodigal son. The one that was basically the same age as him, as he so aptly pointed out.

“Seriously, we probably went to school together,” Tony snaps at him, obviously not pleased with any of this.

“Yeah, I went to public school because I’m poor, so there is _no_ way we went to school together,” Steve snaps back, rolling his eyes at that. In Tony’s defense he had no idea he hit a sore spot there but _still_. His _clothing_ revealed that there was no way they’ve ever come in contact with each other, though if Howard had his way Tony wouldn’t have had the obvious visual clue. He had a _thing_ for trying to insert himself into Steve’s financials and Steve wasn’t about to allow it. Mostly because Howard then liked to hold things over people’s heads and he wasn’t about to allow that either. That was, Steve thinks, the main reason why Howard was attracted to him at all. Unlike everyone else he cut through the bullshit right away and called him out on it without fear. A man like Howard Stark didn’t get told ‘no’ a lot and certainly not with conviction.

“Well if you let me help you wouldn’t be poor,” Howard says, completely ignoring his son. Steve got the feeling that was normal considering he’s only heard about three things about Tony since meeting Howard. All of those things were said with pride, but certainly not enough to make up for the obvious neglect to his kid.

“Well honey, if I didn’t think you’d lord over me for the next forever under reasons I owe you then I’d consider letting you help,” Steve says bluntly, giving him a sweet smile. Howard looks irritated with this because once again he’s been called out on yet another bad habit of his. Tony looks surprised but once he notices that Steve has noticed he manages to pull together a poker face that looks surprisingly like his father’s. It was creepy given that Tony looked like the younger and far more age appropriate version of Howard.

“This is fucked up,” Tony says with meaning and with that he leaves the room.

“That went well,” Howard says after a few beats of silence. Steve squints at him a little; unsure of Howard knew the meaning of ‘went well’. “Look, I know you think I know nothing about my son but I do, alright? He’s just like me when I was his age and you know what I’m like so trust me when I say it went well,” Howard tells him. Steve lets it go because fine, maybe it did go well but he was pretty sure it did not.

*

“He’s marrying his fucking mid life crisis, Rhodes,” Tony tells Rhodey over their video chat.

Rhodey looks confused, “okay so let me get this straight- your father is dating someone who is the same age as you and they’re getting married and he expects you to be totally okay with this?” he asks.

“Pretty much,” Tony confirms.

“Okay, that’s weird. I… yeah, I’ve got nothing,” Rhodey says, throwing up his hands in defeat.

“The worst thing about this is that he’s totally my type. My father and I have the same type and if I hadn’t known they were dating I would have hit on his fiancé. Do you know how horrifying that is?” he asks because he’s not sure Rhodey understood the gravity of what was happening here.

“Well in your defense you hitting on him would make sense, but this older man thing it a little exaggerated and creepy here. I don’t mean to be like… rude or something but is Howard like… blackmailing him or something? Because that does sort of sound like something he would do,” Rhodey says.

“I don’t think Steve is a sex slave, Rhodes,” Tony deadpans. “That’s where things get _really_ weird honestly. I’ve been like spying on them I guess and Steve totally calls him on his shit and Howard _lets_ him.” Howard didn’t let anyone do anything he didn’t want them to and letting Steve not only call him out, but actually _changing_ his behavior to what Steve wanted it to be was like… next level weird. And Steve always got this satisfied smirk on his face, like he knew Howard was going to do what he wanted him to and he was pleased to see that he was right. it was strange and unusual and Tony didn’t like it.

Rhodey frowns, familiar enough with Howard’s behavior to know that this was more than a little strange. “Okay… hear me out,” Rhodey starts, which is Tony’s cue that Rhodey was about to betray him, “what if they’re like… actually good together.”

“Fucking traitorous bastard!” Tony snaps, earning an eye roll from Rhodey.

“Look, I’m just saying if this Steve guy makes Howard more bearable for you to be around then maybe you shouldn’t shoot the weirdly young gift horse in the mouth,” Rhodey tells him.

“I hope you know how terrible you are,” Tony tells him.

“You asked for my advice, Tones, don’t be offended when I give it to you,” Rhodey says, shrugging.

“Your advice is to accept my father’s totally creepy relationship with a guy that’s the same age as his son! That’s like… so creepy!” Tony says, waving his hands around.

“But he calls Howard on his shit, though?” Rhodey asks and Tony nods. “Then take it man, you’re always complaining about how everyone lets him get away with everything, this seems like it’s good for everyone involved. I mean if nothing else you did say he was hot,” Rhodey says.

“I hate you and I’m calling my mom so we can bond over how disturbing this is,” Tony tells him and hangs up when Rhodey starts laughing at him.

The last thing he expects is for his _mother_ to betray him too because even _she_ thought Steve was good for Howard even if she did find their age difference creepy. No one in Tony’s life truly loved him obviously.

*

Howard laughs softly as Steve drops his phone onto the bed after hanging up on some jackass from the Board calling at ass o’clock in the morning to harass Howard about stocks or some other stupid crap he could care less about. “You know since I started dating you they rarely call before seven,” Howard tells him.

“That’s because they know better,” Steve mumbles, intent on getting back to sleep so he could sleep till noon like a normal person.

Howard presses closer to Steve’s back, “well you do have some odd sleep habits that you don’t like interrupted,” he says.

“Coming from the guy with chronic insomnia,” Steve counters. Howard was always up late with his inventions and he woke up early to continue working on them. It was a habit Steve has already noticed that Tony shared, which was more than a little awkward given that they had to share a lab and they were still annoyed with each other due to Steve. That and the baggage they both had with each other that Steve wasn’t even going to _begin_ to get into. None of that was his problem though Howard seemed about as intent on solving his issues with his son as Tony was in letting Howard solve those issues. Stubborn, the pair of them.

“I have a medical issue, you just like sleeping in to absurdly late times,” Howard says, snacking an arm around his waist.

“If this is your attempt at trying something do not,” Steve warns him. Some freaks, like Bucky, thought morning sex was awesome but Steve was not fond of anything that meant he had to get up early. He was fairly certain that was at least half the reason why he had hated school so much- he secretly resented all his teachers for inadvertently being the reason he wasn’t asleep in bed. Now he was upfront about his hatred of being awake before noon, especially to anyone who tried to wake him up before noon.

“Oh calm down, I just wanted to be close to you,” Howard mumbles at him and starts snoring softly not long after. He must be tired, Steve thinks, because he rarely fell asleep that fast and he admitted to wanting affection even less. He decides to think about that later though and falls back asleep.

When he wakes back up Howard is gone, unsurprisingly, so Steve drags himself out of bed and into the shower to deal with his wild hair. After he gets out feeling refreshed and mildly awake he makes his way to Howard’s office only to find him on the phone complaining to someone about something business-y. Howard’s eyes track him as he moves into the room and it’s s surprisingly nice ego boost. Howard didn’t have much of an attention span on the best of days- he was always jumping from one thing to another, always looking forward to the next invention or business move he was about to make. It meant he didn’t much focus on what was right in front of him and he has always looked at Steve in a way he rarely looked at anyone else. Steve found himself pleased to be in that position. It was one of power, after all.

He walks over and presses a soft kiss to Howard’s lips, not really caring who was listening on the other end of the phone call. He’s made his distaste for pretty much all of Howard’s coworkers clear enough that none of them had any delusions about Steve having any respect for them. “I’m on the phone,” Howard tells him when he pulls back.

“So? Since when has that mattered to me?” he asks. Howard gives him a _look_ and Steve sighs and rolls his eyes, earning a smile from Howard. It’s soft and almost caring but Howard is still half stuck in business mode even if he’s giving Steve most of his attention right now.

“Leave me be,” Howard tells him though he at least looks guilty for saying it. Steve grins, happy to have another ego boost so early in the… well, afternoon.

“Uh huh, see if I talk to you later,” Steve tells him, walking from the room with Howard’s sigh following him as he went.

*

“You know he’s only dating you for the ego boost, right?” Tony says, thinking he was smart Steve was sure.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good part of it,” Steve admits easy enough. Howard liked to have his ego stroked and Steve knew he was attractive and being as young as he was he had no illusions about Howard thinking that indicated some sort of sexual prowess or something on his part.

Tony blinks for a long moment, obviously caught off guard. “Wait, what?” he asks.

Steve stands up and stretches himself out. Sitting over a painting for so long was always a bit painful and if Tony insisted on doing this now then fine, he needed a break anyways. “You’re operating under the assumption that I’m completely ignorant to Howard’s personality. I’m not, by the way. I know he’s arrogant, mean, that he takes a weird amount of joy in having a lot of power over other people, that he’d like that kind of power over me, and that he certainly sees our relationship as a sign he’s might be old but he clearly hasn’t aged. So if you intend on breaking us up maybe you should start in with something I _don’t_ know about Howard.”

That would be difficult because Steve has always been good at reading people and gathering information. He had Howard’s number within seconds- it was hardly difficult with most of Howard’s dealings being public knowledge. Unfortunately for Howard emotional intelligence wasn’t something he possessed and Steve had it in spades, which meant he had just as much power in this relationship as Howard did because Steve knew to pick up on Howard’s emotional cues as small as they were. It always freaked him out when Steve gave a perfect analysis of his feelings, especially when he wasn’t displaying that he had any. And like Howard Steve was hardly unwilling to play dirty, which Howard found out quickly.

“He’s _old_ , why the hell would you even _want_ him?” Tony asks, jumping straight to the petulant child tactics though he at least had a point.

“You have eyes, I’m sure you know Howard is attractive. Besides, he’ll die and I’ll get everything,” Steve chirps, only half joking.

Tony narrows his eyes, “I knew it was the money, it couldn’t possibly be his charming personality,” he says with enough venom for Steve to know there was a story there, probably several actually.

“He’s charming when I want him to be, that’s all that matters to me,” Steve says. It wasn’t true whatsoever, but Howard was keenly aware that whenever he did something Steve didn’t like it meant an argument and he wasn’t good at arguing, surprisingly. Steve has always been good with words but Howard was used to bullying people to get what he wanted and when that tactic failed he was mostly confused on what to do next. That lead to Steve winning the argument almost every time and Howard hated loosing more than he hated doing whatever Steve wanted so he sulked and behaved.

“You _do_ realize that we’re the same age right? Because that is creepy,” Tony says.

“I’m three months older, I’m pretty sure Howard did the math just to throw it in your face so be prepared for that. It hardly counts but we both know he’ll act like three months is ten years so it’ll make all the difference,” Steve says, rolling his eyes. But Howard wasn’t good at arguing and if damn well knew that whatever argument winning tactic he used with Tony before was definitely out now that Steve was around to witness it at all. Steve wasn’t naïve enough to assume Howard was anything but cruel to his son.

His reaction seems to throw Tony for another loop and he frowns again, “what?” he asks. He was starting to sound like Howard in an argument, flustered and annoyed and unsure of where to go next because Steve was consistently reacting in ways Tony no doubt spent hours rehearsing in his head.

“Again, you’re acting like I don’t know Howard. He’s a petty asshole, of course he’s going to act like three months is a decade instead of the typical probationary period for a job. And yes, I’m aware that it’s weird. It’s almost as if literally everyone who knows about this relationship has told me that several times. So now we’re back to telling me something I _don’t_ know,” he says. Tony blinks owlishly at him, clearly not sure where to go from here and Steve doesn’t blame him. He doubted that Tony thought that Steve had any sort of awareness of his situation but that was his problem, not Steve’s.

Tony crosses his arms and glares at Steve, “I can see what mom was saying and I don’t like it,” he mumbles.

“You and Howard both. Imagine his surprise when Maria and I actually liked each other. Poor woman, having to deal with Howard for so long. At least she was smart enough to leave,” he says. She certainly dealt with more crap than he ever did but that was in part because she and Howard were just not compatible in any way. If Steve didn’t know any better he would have assumed their marriage was arranged but no, according to Howard he _did_ once care for Maria and Steve believed that that much was true.

His reaction throws Tony again and Steve has to wonder how easy it was so surprise this family. Howard did the same thing the first time they got into an argument and it ended with Howard huffing and stomping off, claiming he was just like Maria. He _really_ hadn’t liked it when Steve asked if that was supposed to be a bad thing. As if he was going to take offense to being compared to a woman who was well known for charity work, volunteering, and generally being a good person. Maria had laughed for a solid ten minutes when Steve told her that and Howard has done his best to make sure they didn’t come in contact with each other after that because he didn’t much like being laughed at. And that was what people didn’t know- that Steve had _plenty_ of power in his relationship with Howard, it just didn’t look the way people expected.

Plus that comment was hilarious and Howard brought it on himself. If he didn’t want to be laughed at then he shouldn’t make such funny jokes.

Tony shakes his head after a long moment of silence, “Jesus Christ I can’t believe I actually think you might survive him. Good fucking luck,” Tony says, throwing up his hands and walking away.

*

Howard looks impressed and Steve was almost offended about it. “What did you say to Tony?” he asks.

“You do this every time I manage to not fail when you think I will and it’s hurtful, you _know_ I’m good with these things,” Steve says.

“Answer the question,” Howard says, looking suspicious.

“I told him I knew you well and gave a few examples. Imagine his surprise when he found out I wasn’t some fickle mouse who had no idea he was playing games with cats.” More like imagine his surprise when he found out that _Howard_ just might be the mouse here. But Steve wasn’t going to tell him that, ignorance was bliss as far as Howard went.

Howard laughs, “yeah… yeah I can imagine that would be something of a surprise. You sure as hell threw Obi for a loop or ten when he tried to get rid of you.”

“Obadiah Stane is an _asshole_ ,” Steve snaps, surprising Howard with the venom behind it. he couldn’t help it though, Obadiah Stane was everything Steve hated about humanity, more so than Howard even. At least he actually _liked_ Howard.

Howard wisely chooses to ignore this and moves on, “how did he know we were engaged though? That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d tell him,” Howard says.

“It isn’t but come on,” Steve says, holding up his left hand, “it wasn’t hard to spot.” The vibranium band would be kind of hard to miss given how unusual it was. Steve told Howard not to get anything fancy, which he supposed he complied with given that it was a very plain band, but Howard had to throw in his wealth and flashiness somewhere so the damn thing was vibranium. Steve has taken a liking to it though because it was a good compromise between what he wanted and what Howard wanted- it showed character growth.

“Oh. Well now I feel like an idiot,” Howard says, shaking his head.

“Your words,” Steve says, laughing when Howard gives him an unimpressed look. “Alright, enough about your stubborn kid, come watch a movie with me,” Steve says, holding out his hand. Howard looks at it for a moment before taking it and letting Steve lead him off to one of many entertainment spaces.

Steve curls up under Howard’s arm watching Beauty and the Beast because Steve liked it and Howard put up with it. Times like this were Steve’s favorite because things were calm and mellow between him and Howard without people watching. Howard relaxed some and Steve let down his guard too. Howard runs his fingers up and down Steve’s arm slowly, clearly more interested in that than Disney movies.

“I was thinking of asking Tony to be my best man,” Howard says eventually.

“Might go a long way in actually convincing him that you like him,” Steve says. As long as he didn’t have to deal with Obadiah fucking Stane Howard could have a damn poodle for his best man for all he cared.

Howard sits up some, jostling Steve and earning a grumpy look for his efforts. “Oh shush, you’re fine. What do you mean convince Tony that I like him, of course I like him! He’s my only kid,” Howard says.

“You ever told him that?” Steve asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure he knows,” Howard says as if this was obvious.

It obviously wasn’t obvious to Tony if Tony’s clear dislike for his father was any indication. “Alright, I’ll just stop giving you attention now because you know I love you,” Steve says.

Howard lets out a small gasp; “no!” he says softly and then winces because he clearly hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

“Then tell your kid that you love him, Howard. Jesus, this is common sense,” Steve tells him.

“Okay childless parenting expert,” Howard mumbles.

“Compared to you I’m a freaking expert, seriously, who has to be reminded to sometimes tell their kid that they love them? I’m fairly certain you’ve told _me_ you loved me more times in the last week than you have Tony in his whole life if his strong dislike towards you is any indication.” Howard’s guilty face was Indication Two that he didn’t appreciate his son enough.

“Alright fine. And we’re watching Wolf of Wall Street when this crap is done,” Howard says, settling back in and draping his arm back around Steve.

“Fine but only because Leonardo DiCaprio is hot,” Steve says and Howard grumbles, saving Steve from having to watch the movie out of some misguided jealousy of Leonardo DiCaprio. He was so _easy_ and this way Steve got to watch another Disney movie.

*

“I’m just saying it’s fucking weird,” Tony tells some sorry soul at the bar but he seems interested enough.

“Right? So my best friend in the world, great guy, is dating this old man and just _why_? Why the hell would someone my age date an old man?” his companion says, shaking his head. “I feel like you can relate to that.”

“I totally can. I mean I knew dad was due for a mid life crisis but I didn’t think he’d fucking _marry_ it,” Tony says, throwing his hands up. “What’s your name anyways?” he asks.

“Bucky. And I totally get you man, I’m pretty sure my friend is having a quarter life crisis or something because this is not the kind of thing people my age do. We don’t marry dudes with one foot in the grave, that’s just ridiculous,” Bucky says.

“Maybe he’s got a big dick or something,” Tony says. That would make some sense, maybe, well probably not given the correlation age had with erectile dysfunction. But it was a thought and given how drunk he was a thought was a good thing.

“Fuck, with his personality he’d have to be hung like twenty seen horses to make up for it,” Bucky says. “Seriously, the guy is a fucking twat, I don’t even know what the hell he sees in him. He isn’t even that cute. He kind of looks like you actually, weird. Whatever, I’m drunk so I’m probably not making sense.”

Tony snorts, “you say hung like twenty seven horses is good, my colon says it’s not. Unlucky you though because my dad’s fiancé is fucking _smokin_ ’. Ten out of ten, I’d tap that and that’s the worst part. Like if I were two days older than dirt and a guy that looked like that was interested in me then _hell_ yeah, I’d be cool with it. Is that like… incestuous? Fuck, I need more shots if this is where my brain is going to go,” Tony says, flagging down the bar tender to get more drinks.

Bucky seems happy with this development and by the end of the night they learn that they have three friends in common, neither one of them like Phil Coulson, and they were both appropriately turned on and terrified of Natasha Romanov. Clint, they decided, was cool unless he was mad because then he was a real asshole but he didn’t usually get like that. They also learn that they both had an unhealthy love of gravy, vodka, and random hookups at bars because those were easier than actual relationships. They mostly avoided that last subject though because they were both chicken and didn’t like talking about their feelings, so they skipped to the hooking up part.

“Okay so I’ll make you a deal,” Bucky says, “I’ll ruin your dad’s wedding and you ruin my friend’s. deal?”

“Deal. Now take your pants off,” Tony says, stumbling in the general direction of his bed.

*

“No! No, no, no, no!” Howard yells, drawing Steve’s attention from the food he was making in the kitchen. He’s always been good at cooking; especially considering he had to learn how to mask the taste of discount produce, and Howard preferred his cooking to anyone else’s. Steve was flattered considering Howard has eaten in some pretty nice places.

“What are you yelling about?” Steve asks, stepping into the hallway to see Howard stomping towards him.

“Your best friend!” Howard snaps, giving Steve zero context.

“What’d Bucky do? He hasn’t even been around in forever because he hates you,” Steve says bluntly. Bucky was pretty vocal about his dislike and Steve wasn’t going to play the middle man to anyone’s arguments so he made the effort to go and see Bucky to avoid his and Howard’s yelling at each other.

“He slept with my son!” Howard snaps.

Steve raises an eyebrow as Bucky comes around the corner pulling his shirt over his head, “oh get over it, Stark. And Steve, hey, why didn’t you switch up to the younger model when you met him? He’s hotter, not two seconds from dying, and his company is _excellent_ in all respects,” Bucky says, grinning cheekily at Howard, who looks ready to loose his mind.

He keeps quiet though because he knows damn well that being an ass to Bucky isn’t going to land him on Steve’s good side and he never much liked being on Steve’s bad side. “Bucky, hey, I wasn’t expecting you and I didn’t switch up to the ‘younger model’ because Tony and Howard are two totally different people and I only love one of them. I don’t even know if I _like_ Tony, no offense,” he says to Tony as he rounds the corner looking thoroughly hung over.

“Fuck you,” Tony mumbles. Howard opens his mouth to say something and Steve gives him a _look_ , effectively silencing him before he speaks. Tony could apologize for what he said when he was hung over later.

Bucky just grins, obviously pleased with this whole thing. “You better not have planned this,” Steve warns, drawing Tony’s attention like he figured he would.

“Wait, this _wasn’t_ planned was it?” he asks. _Easy_.

It wasn’t, Steve knew, because Bucky was too damn happy with himself to have kept it a secret for long and this would have taken a lot of prep. But it was a good way to distract Tony and Bucky with each other while Steve distracted Howard and thus avoided any fights.

“No Tones, it wasn’t. I had no idea who you were and I was _way_ too drunk to recognize the estate. And I was uh… a little too _busy_ to look out the widow anyways so,” Bucky shrugs and Tony looks somewhat relieved.

Howard goes to speak again but Steve cuts him off, “go get food, Howard,” Steve tells him and thankfully its enough to draw his attention momentarily away.

“Keep your best friend away from my son,” Howard tells him as he passes.

“Your son and my best friend are both grown men who can do what they want, now learn to deal with it,” Steve counters as Howard unhappily makes himself a plate, something else that he’s learned to do recently because Steve wasn’t his fucking waiter, he could get his _own_ plate together. He even managed to train Howard into doing his own damn dishes instead making the house staff do it all for him. They all liked Steve because he wasn’t a fucking heathen like Howard and he cleaned up after himself.

“Thanks, Steve, at least someone thinks I’m an adult who is capable of basic decision making,” Tony mumbles as he walks in.

“ _Please_ keep making adult decisions with me,” Bucky says, blatantly staring at Tony’s ass as he walks in behind him.

“Oh for fucks sakes, Bucky, don’t be an ass. And don’t you dare steal all the bacon,” Steve tells him as Bucky makes a beeline for the meat. Howard snatches the whole plate and walks away with it, leaving Bucky grumbling in annoyance.

“Howard, be an adult and save all that bacon for me,” Steve tells him, earning an annoyed groan from Tony. Bucky glares at him but he started all of this with being far too pleased with sleeping with Steve’s fiancé’s kid. If he could dish it he could take it.

*

“I’m not asking him now, he’s being a little asshole,” Howard snaps.

“Oh for gods sake, Howard, he’s acting like you. If you don’t like it then maybe you should have set a better example,” Steve tells him, hands on his hips.

Howard doesn’t look impressed with this but he sighs, “fine, then what do you suggest I do?” he asks.

“Go put on your big boy pants and go talk to your kid,” Steve says, shooing Howard off. Howard looks ready to fight Steve on it but he deflates when he senses that Steve wasn’t going to give in.

“And what if he says no, Steve?” he asks softly. And _there_ was the real problem here.

He steps forward and gently kisses Howard, running his hands through his greying hair. How it’s managed to last so long he had no idea, but they greying look was attractive on Howard. “He won’t say no, now go ask your kid to be your best man because I’ve already managed to distract Bucky and you’ve only got a half an hour,” he says.

Howard presses his forehead to Steve’s, “you’re the best, you know that? Even if your ass of a best friend _insists_ on pointing out how close I am to death every chance he gets.”

Steve can’t help the giggle that escapes and Howard gives him an unimpressed look, but it was funny okay? He could let a man live. “In his defense the age gap between us is actually larger than the number of years I’ve been alive,” he says. He was twenty two and Howard was a cool fifty two. Bucky did the math once to try and freak Steve out but the joke was on him; Steve was already capable of basic math.

“Oh god, don’t tell me that. I like to pretend you’re my age because that’s less weird than considering you’re barely older than my kid,” Howard says, wrinkling his nose.

“Yeah, but my ass is definitely nice enough to sufficiently distract you,” Steve says, grinning.

Howard sighs, ‘what I wouldn’t give to have the ass I had at your age,” he says somewhat wistfully.

“Yeah, way back in the ye olde days,” Steve says, laughing and dodging Howard’s attempt to swat at him.

*

Steve and Bucky watch as Howard and Tony talk because Howard _insisted_ on taking forever to go talk to his son and Steve was forced to distract his best friend through other means, like eavesdropping on Howard and Tony’s conversation. He hadn’t exactly expected Bucky to take a shining to Tony but they seemed to have a good thing going and their favorite hobby was to piss Howard off, which both of them thought was the cats ass.

He figures he’d leave them to it but he knew Bucky well- this wasn’t going to be some kind of fling for him if he could help it. He doubted even Bucky knew that at the moment and Tony certainly didn’t so Steve was curious to see how this went.

“Hey Tony I uh… wanted to ask you something,” Howard says awkwardly.

“I didn’t screw Bucky to piss you off, how the hell was I supposed to know when he was talking shit about some old geezer in the bar he was talking about you?” Tony says, jumping to conclusions exactly the way his father did but this time it was amusing. He and Bucky do their best not to laugh because _everything_ echoed off the walls of the massive mansion and neither one of them wanted to tip the other off.

“I… that wasn’t what I was going to ask you. God knows I don’t want any details about you and Barnes _ever_ , thank you. I uh… I wanted to ask if you wanted to be my best man at the wedding,” Howard says, spitting it out to get it all over with.

The question obviously throws Tony off and he goes through several emotions before he settles on suspicious. “What, did Obi say no? Doesn’t seem like him,” he says in a guarded tone.

Howard frowns, “what? No, I didn’t ask Obi. To be honest Steve hates him so I’m fairly certain he’d veto that pretty quick even if I did want to ask him. I asked you because you’re my son and you weren’t around for the last wedding I had and honestly who else would I ask? You’ve always been my best man,” Howard says.

“Aww!” Steve whispers, earning a smack from Bucky that was way louder than his comment so he could stuff it.

Tony looks confused for a long moment before he speaks, “really?” he asks. Steve was going to have a conversation with Howard later about not being an ass of a parent but until then he wanted to know what Tony was going to say.

“Of course, Tony. I know that I uh… that I’ve never really told you that but I do love you, you know. More than anything,” Howard says awkwardly. God, you’d think he was forced to feel emotions at gunpoint sometimes.

Tony hugs Howard and Steve does a silent fist pump because _hell yeah_ , he did it again! And Bucky owed him two hundred bucks because he bet Tony would tell Howard to fuck off but Steve totally knew he underestimated how much Tony was truly vying for his father’s attention. So _ha_.

“Of course I’ll be your best man, even if I think your relationship is seriously creepy,” Tony says, completely ruining the moment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This somehow turned into a lot of Howard and Tony bonding when it was initially supposed to be Steve and Howard's wedding but hey, whatever lol. There's also a lovely bit on how Howard feels about Steve and how their relationship developed on his end.

Against all odds Howard found himself in love once again and it wasn’t due to stupid youth and hormones like Maria. Steve was everything Howard didn’t know he wanted, or needed, at probably the most inopportune moment of his life. Though in Steve’s defense had he come along sooner he would have been a teen and any later Howard had a good chance of being _dead_ due to their age difference. It was still inconvenient though, not that Howard was about to complain too much about it. Steve was bright, perceptive, and he had a sharper edge that Howard always wanted to see more of even if Steve never seemed to let it out.

People thought that he wanted some kind of trophy and while Steve made a pretty trophy Howard had little use for toys that could talk back. Then they got complicated in a way Steve decidedly wasn’t. Steve wasn’t shy about his expectations, he let you know in _several_ ways when you failed them, he didn’t _do_ the silent treatment because he was too vocal for that, and he was generally uncomplicated. And of course he was attractive and young, but that was secondary.

Howard rarely had moments of clarity when in that brief few seconds he knew something with certainty. He’s only had a handful in his life, most related to his inventions, but Steve held one of the three spots that belonged to realizations about people. The first came when he held Tony for the first time and he knew he’d never love anything more, the second came when Tony was seventeen and they were in yet another screaming match and he just _knew_ they’d never have a good relationship no matter how much he wanted one.

The last moment had been some two months or so after meeting Steve and he was picking up his scattered belongings with the intent on kicking him out when he woke up like always but he found a picture Steve drew of him. He had no idea why he liked it or what was special about it but he had stared at that drawing for what felt like hours before Steve came up behind him and made an irritated noise, citing that he disliked the drawing. Howard still had it sitting on his desk, which Steve hated, but it was a good reminder for Howard to remember when, _exactly_ , he realized that Steve was far more to him than some fling.

Steve hadn’t been something he had expected to happen but he was more than happy that he found him nonetheless. He, unlike most, could both handle Howard’s personality and he managed to more than live up to Howard’s expectations while he did it. The only thing he didn’t like about Steve was that he had high standards that he _expected_ the people around him to meet, which wasn’t inherently terrible, it was just that Howard failed a lot and he wasn’t used to failing like he was at the moment.

“For gods sakes Howard, you’re a grown god damn man and you can’t even handle a conversation with your kid without it turning into a screaming match,” Steve snaps, hands on his hips. The last thing Howard expected out of introducing Tony and Steve was for Steve to decide to repair they’re mangled relationship. If he was honest he half expected Steve to leave him for someone his own age and he’s been told that Tony was just like him, as Bucky put it he’d be trading up to the younger hotter model. In hindsight he probably should have predicted that Steve would try and fix his and Tony’s relationship though because he had a habit for trying to fix things.

“Tony is a grown god damn man too, why aren’t you complaining at him?” he snaps back. He doesn’t want to fight, not really, but it was instinctual to get defensive when someone was yelling at him.

Steve rolls his eyes, “you’re the parent here Howard, act like it,” Steve tells him.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Howard asks, jaw clenched.

“Stop sulking in your room like a petulant teen, put on your big boy panties, go find your son, and have a conversation with him without resorting to acting like an asshole,” Steve tells him bluntly. It was meant to be condescending, he knows, but he can’t help but appreciate the detailed instruction. Most people just skipped to the part where he was supposed to act out a role he didn’t actually understand. Steve, when pressed, gave pretty detailed descriptions of exactly what he expected and Howard could work with that even if he could do without the attitude.

“Well the bad news is that ‘asshole’ is basically my entire personality,” he snaps. Or so he’s been told by a rather large group of people, Steve included.

“Oh stop being dramatic and making excuses for yourself. You want a relationship with your kid and the good news is that he wants a relationship with you too, but you’re being a total asshat to Tony isn’t going to help you,” Steve tells him.

“And what will?” Howard snaps at him, annoyed with this.

“Treating your son like you actually care about him instead of doing what you always do when you get into a tight situation. Don’t think I don’t notice that you have a nasty habit of bullying people into doing what you want them to. But you can’t bully people into loving you, Howard, that does the opposite so maybe it’s time that you try something new,” Steve says, ending on a much softer note than the one he started with.

Howard relaxes in a way that only Steve could ever manage. He was a master of manipulation, Howard knew, because he managed to manipulate Howard all the time. Like now, for example- he damn well knew he was going to do exactly what Steve told him to and he knew that he relaxed immediately when Steve did because… well he wasn’t sure why. All he knew is that Steve was just as good at deescalating situations as he was at escalating them.

“And if it’s too late?” Howard asks, releasing just a little bit of how he really felt about things and only because he was comfortable with Steve.

“It isn’t. Trust me, Tony wouldn’t spend so much time trying to win he approval of someone he didn’t secretly care about even if he probably won’t admit it,” Steve tells him. He can see that Steve is being genuine, another thing he liked about Steve. He disliked trying to read people because it was difficult for him to do but Steve was almost always an open book. The only time Steve hadn’t had exactly what he was thinking written all over his face was after a nasty fight they had and Howard had less than no desire to repeat that incident.

“Where do you see him _ever_ looking for my approval?” Because he didn’t see it at all and he’s looked. There was nothing more that he would want than Tony looking for his approval, at least then he’d know that Tony cared.

“All the time, Howard. He shows you his designs, doesn’t he? It isn’t because he cares about the company and if you reacted better to his ideas he’d probably show you more, but you’re an asshole about everything he shows you,” Steve says, giving him a pointed look. As much as Steve’s attitude annoyed him to no end he at least appreciated that Steve didn’t deal with bullshit. Neither of them had much patience for it and it was a blessing to not have to deal with some ridiculous guessing game in which he had no idea what was wrong let alone how to fix it.

“How do you know he doesn’t care about the company, hmm?” It would make more sense to him than Tony caring about him. Tony hated him, he’s only told Howard that a million times.

“If he cared about the company and not you he’d show the Board his designs, not you,” Steve says simply. Howard sees it clearly now and he gets another one of those rare moments in which everything aligned for him. “ _There_ you go,” Steve murmurs, walking closer to him. He presses his head to Steve’s stomach and Steve pets his hair for a moment, giving him time to gather himself before he had to go face his kid.

When he finds Tony he’s annoyed with Howard’s presence but Steve had at least been nice enough to warn him that he would be. People weren’t Howard’s strong suit, never had been. He sits down on the opposite side of the couch from Tony and sighs, “Steve said I should talk to you,” he starts, shocked when Tony rolls his eyes and stands up, “where are you going?” he asks, unable to keep the annoyance from his voice.

“I’m not talking to you because _Steve_ decided that you needed to talk to me,” Tony snaps at him.

Tony’s annoyance clicks for Howard and he sighs, “that isn’t what I meant, Tony. I want to talk to you on my own, more than you know. But I have no idea how to, Steve just encouraged me to try,” he says. He doesn’t like saying that much out loud because he disliked people knowing what he was thinking or feeling at any one time but he lets some of that go in an attempt to talk to his kid in a constructive manner.

Tony pauses for a moment before he slowly sits back down, “what does that even mean?” he asks. “Because from where I’m standing you don’t want anything to do with me, you’ve never wanted anything to do with me.”

This comes as _news_ to Howard. He knew that when Tony was young he wasn’t exactly _nice_ … well, he was probably downright nasty. He inherited being a mean drunk from his own father and he doubted he was pleasant to Tony but he didn’t think he was around enough to make Tony think he actively _disliked_ him in any capacity.

“That is _not_ true. I’ve always wanted to be involved in your life, you never let me,” he says. Tony was always giving him pushback, always trying to push his buttons and press his patience.

“Bull _shit_ , I’ve bent over backwards for _years_ to try and look at me for a hot second and the longest you ever look in my direction is when I’m standing in your way. Then you shove me aside and go back to ignoring me. Or you consistently insult me and my ideas, whichever flavor you feel like that week,” Tony says bitterly.

Howard sighs again because he at least knew what Tony meant by his second statement, the one about ridiculing Tony’s ideas. “Tony, I don’t think you’re stupid in any capacity, but miniaturizing the arc reactor is impossible. Find something new,” he says, working to keep his tone gentle with more work than he thought it should take.

Tony scowls at him and gets up, holding his hand out to stop Howard from reacting while he walked away. Howard sits there awkwardly, not knowing if he read the signs right but he waits nonetheless until Tony comes back. Tony throws something at him and he almost drops it but thankfully he catches himself. It takes a moment for him to register what he was seeing and when it clicks his jaw drops.

“I… you… how the hell did you do this? The math is impossible, I’ve tried and tried again, this… this shouldn’t exist,” he says, awe in his tone.

Tony, thankfully, seems to react well to this. “That isn’t even the first one, it’s the third. The first one was a design I wasn’t happy with so I reconfigured a few things and came up with a better design but the core would have caused a lot of environmental damage, which is counterproductive when it’s supposed to be a clean energy product so this is the winning design with a sufficient core,” Tony tells him, sounding almost hesitant as he explained what was going on.

Howard wouldn’t have been so hesitant about presenting a product that was flat out impossible to create with the current state of technology. “How did you solve the core problem?” Howard asks, well aware of what Tony meant by it. His own giant version had the same problem, which was half of what made the project a giant waste of time and money.

“I made an element,” Tony says.

“Tony, blending things together doesn’t count as making an element,” he tells him as he turns the reactor over in his hands. He itched to take it apart, to see how Tony did it but he could never ruin a work of art like this.

“No dad, I made a new atomic structure out of nothing. I made an element and it solved the problem,” Tony says in a casual tone like this was some kind of every day thing.

Howard almost drops the reactor on his foot he’s so shocked. “Jesus Christ kid, get everything you have on this reactor together, and that element of yours. You’re presenting this to the Board and we’re going to give you a space to expand on this green energy thing in the company because this is more than brilliant and I have been squashing your talent,” he says, absolutely awed by this revelation. Had he known about this _before_ his argument with Tony it never would have happened. _Jesus_ he had one talented kid.

Tony looks shocked, “really?” he asks, blinking in surprise.

“Absolutely,” Howard says, standing to go make sure things were done on his end before he stops for a moment. Steve told him to be genuine so he turns back to Tony. “And for the record I have _never_ disliked you or otherwise felt negatively towards you. I say stupid shit and that’s never on you and it has nothing to do with you. And… and as much as I love my company and I love my inventions my greatest creation has and always will be you,” he tells him.

Tony looks away then, blinking rapidly and Howard leaves him to it, knowing that Tony needed time to process that on his own.

*

“Howard, would you put that thing down,” Steve tells him, hands on his hips while Howard holds up a camera.

“Are you going to complain about me living through a lens again? You’re such an old man,” Howard jokes. “Isn’t it supposed to be me that complains about all the newfangled technology?” he asks.

Steve gives him a _look_ and as always Howard does exactly what Steve wants him to. “Thank you,” he says.

“I hope you know that you’re secretly the old man in this relationship, I’m the young one at heart,” Howard says, grinning at him. it was a familiar argument for them but Steve didn’t mind it, not really. He just wanted Howard to be _present_ in the moment rather than having his face stuck in a damn camera.

“Uh huh, keep telling yourself that,” Steve tells him. He was tempted to say something snarkier but it would probably come off sounding like something Bucky would say and after he and Tony managed to end up in a serious relationship Howard was more annoyed with anything Bucky related than usual.

“I will because it’s true,” Howard quips back.

Steve rolls his eyes playfully, “alright fine, name one reason why I should let you keep that thing around and if I like your reason I’ll let you keep it,” Steve tells him.

Howard considers his words, which meant he was actually serious so Steve was curious to see what he would come up with.

“I know you think that my having this around is somehow detractive from my experience with you but it isn’t,” Howard says and his tone is somber- it was a good way to know he was taking this seriously. “I’m not living through a lens or whatever it is you said earlier, it’s the opposite. I’m living in the moment just fine, but I know how my mind works and I forget things easily. Why bother trying to remember my honeymoon with bits and pieces of clarity when I can record it all and go watch it with far more clarity than I could ever remember it in?” Howard asks, genuinely concerned with keeping his memories in tact. Steve hadn’t expected that.

Steve stands there for a moment, stunned and flattered. “You know what, Howard, keep the camera,” he tells him, smiling fondly at his husband.


End file.
